


there is a prayer in me, still

by ohhgreywarden



Series: Tumblr Prompts [3]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: Circle Mage Bethany Hawke, F/M, Gen, Healing Magic, Hurt/Comfort, Mutual Pining, Non-Graphic Violence, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Tumblr Prompt, extremely literally, grievous bodily injury but not described in detail, not that it's really mentioned but, set during the fight with Red Lyrium Meredith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:35:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21825283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohhgreywarden/pseuds/ohhgreywarden
Summary: Anders is dead, and Sebastian is injured. The only one in left in their party who can save him is Bethany.
Relationships: Bethany Hawke/Sebastian Vael
Series: Tumblr Prompts [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1572025
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	there is a prayer in me, still

**Author's Note:**

> Originally [posted on tumblr](https://sebethany.tumblr.com/post/189673156400). Written for a prompt from [this list](https://sebethany.tumblr.com/post/189668877835).

Sebastian is standing, and then suddenly he isn’t.

He doesn’t even register the pain, at first. It’s not until he tries to stand back up and every part of his body burns in agony that he even realizes he’s hurt. He tries to fight through the pain even if it’s just to crawl away from the moving statues and from Meredith’s fury, but he’s trapped.

A part of one of the statues, shattered by Merrill’s magic, has fallen on him, it seems. He faintly hears her crying out, apologizing profusely and praying to the Creators. Someone is moving the heavy stone off of him (how is it possible that it hurts as much to have it removed as to have it still on him?) and then dragging him to the side. A flash of blue--Fenris. But also…

“Dammit, Choir Boy, don’t die on us!”

 _Huh, that’s new_ , Sebastian thinks, half sure his pain is making him hallucinate Varric’s tone of concern for him.

“ _Kaffas!_ It’s worse than I thought,” Fenris says as he and Varric pull Sebastian behind a fallen statue. “Sebastian, can you hear us?”

“Yes,” he whispers.

“Good.” Sebastian can tell that Fenris is scared, perhaps more scared than he’s ever heard the elf before. “We’ll… we’ll get Bethany.”

“Sunshine?” Varric asks and Sebastian can perfectly picture his eyebrow raising. “She’s not much of a healer.”

“Well, Anders is dead, so what choice do we have?”

“Alright, alright,” Varric’s voice grows slightly more distant; he’s walking away. “I’ll get her. And Choir Boy, you’d better pray for a miracle.”

Sebastian’s vision is improving again, at least. He’s no longer pain-blind, and he can see the worry in Fenris’s face as he attempts to compress a wound on Sebastian’s arm.

“I think **there is a prayer in me, still** ,” Sebastian mutters, although he knows Varric can no longer hear him.

He’s not sure how much time passes, but it does pass, and he still lives. After Maker knows how long, he hears a panicked voice growing closer.

“Is he over there, Varric? How bad is he?”

“Just back there, Sunshine. He’s… well, you’ll see.”

There’s a flash of red light as Varric comes into sight again, and right behind him is Bethany Hawke. She has dried blood running from a wound past her hairline and ash settled on her torn robes. Sebastian has never seen a more beautiful sight in his life. She gasps when she sees him.

“Do you think you can heal him?” Fenris asks as Bethany kneels beside Sebastian.

“I… I don’t know,” she whispers. “I’ll try.”

Her hands shake as she hovers them over Sebastian’s chest. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. He feels a heavy warmth spread through his body and closes his eyes. The pain lessens, a little, but he can’t tell if it’s from Bethany’s magic or the numbness spreading through his brain.

 _Perhaps it would not be so bad to die if Bethany’s face is the last thing you see,_ he thinks to himself.

“Sebastian?” Bethany’s voice cuts through his stupor. “Oh Maker, please…”

A white-hot burst of energy shocks through his body, and in its wake, some of his pain is replaced with soreness. He gasps for air and his ribs no longer hurt.

“Oh thank the Maker, he’s still alive,” Bethany cries out. Sebastian opens his eyes to see her swallow down a lyrium potion in one gulp before another jolt of energy strikes him.

Her healing magic is not as subtle or gentle as Anders’s was. It hurts as much when she heals him as it did before the healing started, but after each jolt of energy his pain lessens. She drinks another potion, and another, and another, and each time her mana is renewed, Sebastian feels his bones and skin knit back together even more. There will be scars, he’s sure, and bumps where the bones were mended that would not have been there had a more skilled healer tended to him, but after seven flasks of lyrium, Bethany finally sits back on her heels. He’s whole once more.

Sebastian sits up and Bethany holds a potion to his lips, this one yellow. Her hand is on his shoulder (the one not covered in armor, and he can feel the heat of it through his clothes), steadying him as he drinks. His energy returns as the potion courses through him.

He turns to Bethany, looking into her deep brown eyes with adoration. Her face is flushed from exertion but she still gives him a small, bashful smile. Sebastian brings a hand up to tuck her hair behind her ear, and when his fingers brush the skin of her face, he has half a mind to kiss her.

“Well, shit,” Varric says. “Sunshine did it.”

“That she did,” Sebastian says quietly, not looking away from Bethany even as she turns her head away and scrambles to her feet.

“Can you stand?” Fenris asks.

“I think so.”

Sebastian slowly bends his legs and attempts to rise. He collapses back down with a wince but immediately tries to stand again. In an instant, Bethany comes to stand before him, holding out her hand to him. He takes it and she’s able to pull him up.

“Come on, we need to help Hawke,” Varric says once it’s clear Sebastian won’t fall down again. He and Fenris rush out from behind the statue, leaving Sebastian and Bethany alone for the moment.

Her hand is still in his, and he gently clasps both hands around it. Bethany’s eyes are locked on their hands.

“Thank you, Bethany,” Sebastian says. “I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you.”

“You being alive is enough,” Bethany says breathlessly, meeting his eyes once again before pulling away. “Let’s just try to keep it that way, sound good?”

She dashes out from behind the statue, pulling her staff from her back.

 _You should have kissed her,_ Sebastian thinks before he, too, rejoins the fray. _That would have been repayment enough._


End file.
